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One branch, with which the title remains, migrated to
the West and served their country with distinction in the army and navy.
Sir Thomas, 4th Bart., and Sir William, 6th Bart., were both
spendthrifts. Though Sir William, 5th Bart. (Plate VIII), who married
his cousin Jane Twisden (Plate VIII), was a farmer at heart, and tried
to redeem the family fortunes, his third son, Philip, Bishop of Raphoe,
was made bankrupt and, so the story goes, took to a highwayman's career,
and was ultimately shot on Wrotham Heath while holding up one of his
brother's guests. The home of the Bishop's daughter Frances, Lady
Jersey, a favourite of George IV, became a society gambling rendezvous,
at which the reputations of her cousins were in no way enhanced. Sir
William Jarvis, the 7th Bart., while being pursued by his creditors,
engineered an elopement to Gretna Green, and subsequently got even more
deeply into debt, while William, the 8th Bart., with an annuity of £200
a year—the remnant of
Roydon—posed as a
"Regency Buck," and made a bigamous alliance. His brother
Francis preferred to earn an honest living as a railway porter at
Ashford. There is little wonder then that the Roydon Estate and family
portraits finally changed hands in 1834.
Thomas Twisden (Plate X), who bought and imparked
Bradbourne, was the second son of Sir William Twysden, 1st Bart. of
Roydon and Lady Anne, and the brother of much persecuted Sir Roger. He
was a lawyer and set out to form a second branch of the family not |
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only
by his acquisition of Bradbourne and neighbouring properties but by
his change of the letter y to i in his name. He took part in local
affairs and was Recorder for Maidstone and, for a short time, its Member
of Parliament. His legal practice in London, however, forced him to give
up local affairs. Though a Royalist at heart, he acquiesced in
Cromwell's regime and accepted office under him. He was elected one of
the burgesses of Maidstone in the Convention Parliament which proclaimed
the restoration of the King and it was after that, in July, 1660, that
he was made a Judge of the High Court and knighted. He was one of the
three Judges before whom the Regicides were tried after the Restoration,
and also one of the assessors appointed after the Great Fire of London.
Amongst his other interesting trials was that of John Bunyan. He was
granted a baronetcy in 1666. He married Jane Thomlinson, whose brother,
Colonel Mathew Thomlinson (Plate X), was captain of the guard which
looked after Charles I at St. Jame's Palace and escorted him to
Whitehall for his execution. As an appreciation of his courteous
behaviour, King Charles presented him with his gold toothpick, which was
long kept as a relic at Bradbourne. Colonel Thomlinson was buried in the
chancel of East Malling Church.
Thomas' son, Sir Roger Twisden, 2nd Bart. of Bradbourne,
consolidated the estate. By marrying Margaret, daughter of Sir John
Marsham, 1st Baronet of Whorne's Place, Cuxton, he allied with yet |